Left Turn at Albuquerque…What a View
(Bugs Bunny reference in title for those that don’t know)
Old Town Albuquerque is a great place to spend a few hours shopping, eating, and soaking up the history. We ate at the historic and tasty Church Street Cafe. This restaurant is a converted dwelling thought to be the oldest home in Albuquerque and one of the oldest structures in the state.
The beautiful Catholic church built in 1793 still conducts services today.
When I think of Albuquerque, NM; I think of the Annual International Balloon Fiesta. Unfortunately, that event takes place in the fall. The next best thing to the festival is the International Balloon Museum. Here you get the history of ballooning from Europe to its evolution throughout the world.
Scott and I were really interested to see the petroglyphs at the Petroglyph National Monument. A petroglyph is a rock carving. Archeologist estimate that most of the images were made 400 to 700 year ago by the ancestors of today’s Native people.
Within the Cibolo National Forest is the Sandia Peak Tramway which is a must see. The tram goes from a base elevation of 6,559 feet to a top elevation of 10,378 feet. A trip up the mountain takes fifteen minutes to ascend 3,819 ft, and the normal operating speed of the tram is 12 miles per hour. From the top of the mountain you can see all of Albuquerque and have fantastic views of the canyon. We went later in the day and waited for the sunset – beautiful.
Gettin’ our Kicks on Route 66
As we traveled West to Albuquerque we found ourselves on Route 66.
We made stops in Amarillo, TX and Santa Rosa, NM with no expectations of doing anything other than spending the night. Amarillo turned out to be more fun than anticipated. The RV park in Amarillo offered a free shuttle to The Big Texan for dinner. And by shuttle, I mean a limo with steer horns.
The Big Texan is the home of the free 72oz steak. If you can eat a 72oz steak, baked potato, shrimp cocktail, salad, roll and butter in under an hour, you get it all free. Neither of us was up for the challenge but there was one person who gave it a shot while we were there. Their meal was not free.
We had a great meal and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant.
Santa Rosa was less eventful but we did check out some of the Route 66 signage.
On to Albuquerque…
Oklahoma City Memorial
We had one mission during our few days stay in Oklahoma and that was to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. We stayed at the Lucky Star Casino’s parking lot with full hook-ups for free. The casino is about 20 minutes from OKC so this was a great spot for a short stop.
When Shirley Jones sang about the winds sweeping down the plains in the musical Oklahoma she was not joking. The wind gusted to about 35 mph ever day and night during our stay. I was convinced we were going to blow away. It made for a few sleepless nights for me, but don’t worry Scott and Buddy slept just fine.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was very moving and was extremely well done. We both found it to be informative yet respectful of both the victims and the survivors of this national tragedy.
Hangin’ with Friends in Big D
After a harrowing drive from Austin to Lake Lewisville through Fort Worth on I-35, we were so pleased to be settled for the week at Hickory Creek. Hickory Creek Campground is on Lake Lewisville and is about 40 minutes from downtown Dallas during off peak hours.
Perot Museum of Natural Science was really awesome. Our friend Glynda joined us on our quest for knowledge. This is a hands on museum that is a lot of fun. You can make your own bird using the computers in the Hall of Birds. Glynda and I made one and it was hysterically pathetic. Scott and Glynda faced off on a game called predator versus prey. No surprise that Scott won – he’s sneaky. We got to see some beautiful minerals, experienced an earthquake, and played meteorologist during a tornado. This is a great place to spend a few hours. Go later in the day as their are many field trips here during the morning.
During our time we wanted to see as many friends as possible. Thanks for taking time out of your schedule for dinner Tim, Missy, Bill, Karen, Sean, and Glynda. And although I don’t have a picture of Elisa and Mary Alice thanks to you as well. John and Cheryl appreciate you opening your home for late night happy hour before your early morning drive.
A huge shout out to Becki and Bob for their hospitality. It was so good to see you both for lunch and Bocci ball.
The Dallas World Aquarium is just fabulous. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Scott had never been to Dealey Plaza where President John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963. The Texas School Book Depository where shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, is said to have fired the shots that killed JFK from the 6th floor.
The Grassy Knoll is also pictured below. The Grassy Knoll is where Secret Service agents initially believed the assassination shots were fired.
On the road you can see Xs painted which indicate where the limousine carrying JFK was located during the shots.
Great to see you Phil. You look wonderful!!
Going Batty in Austin
We have lived in Texas for more than 20 years but have rarely played tourist there, so we decided to do that as we passed through on our way West.
We stayed at great little park operated by The US Army Corp of Engineers called Jim Hogg Park in Georgetown, TX about 40 minutes from downtown Austin. The park is on the north side of Georgetown Lake.
We have been itching to get a bike ride in since it had been months since we have been in locations that really allowed for it. A bike ride through Zilker Park and around Lady Bird Lake sounded like just the thing. As a bonus we got to try out our new bike hauler on the back of the Beetle. It worked great and was much safer than bungying them to the back seat with the top down. (Yes we really did that and got many laughs from our fellow campers).
After all the exercise it was necessary to get some food. I had never eaten from a food truck and Austin is known for having some great trucks with a lot of variety. Coat and Thai was our choice for some good Thai food (and what a clever name).
Another day found us taking a car ride to Lake Travis. Lake Travis is a hydroelectric reservoir and gets its inflow of water from the Colorado River. The Lake is where many Texans head to in the summer for boating, water sports, fishing, parasailing and on and on. Real Estate here is at a premium so we wanted to see for ourselves. The best way to see anything is with food. The Oasis on Lake Travis restaurant has beautiful views of the lake. (We were fortunate to snag a table on the high deck right by the railing.) While the Oasis’ food was less than stellar the lake did not disappoint.
Another day found us back in Austin to explore the city. The HOPE Outdoor Gallery is a community paint park. It is the only paint park of its kind in the USA and was developed to provide artists and community groups the opportunity to display large scale art pieces. Some of the art here was very well done, other pieces were tagging that was pretty basic.
I felt that my time could have been better spent with artists like…..
Stevie Ray Vaughn
If you are reading this and not from Texas then you may not know what 6th Street in Austin is all about. 6th Street is a historic and entertainment 9 block area in the urban core of the city. The area is frequented by local college and university students and is popular for the many drinking establishments in the area. Scott and I were 6th Street virgins, but no more! We went on a weekday so it was not hopping, but that was ok with us. Casino El Camino is known for its Bloody Mary’s, of which I am a huge fan. They have an interesting heat scale from 1 to 8 with 6 being ghost pepper hot. I got a 4 and was very satisfied with the heat level. As you can see this drink is like a meal. This is a funky place playing B movies on the TV and mostly caters to the punk crowd.
No summer tourist trip to Austin is complete without going batty. In the summer, female Mexican free-tailed bats migrate to Austin to have their young. Their numbers swell to 1.5 million before they head south as fall and cooler temperatures approach. We went on a riverboat cruise to better view the bats who make their home under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. If you decide to do this it is worth it, but wear a hat. There are hundreds of thousands of bats and the riverboat is directly under them… and well the bats aren’t potty trained.
It was difficult to capture the bats in photos so Scott took this short video below:
Getting Stuff Done…but still having fun
We spent a week in Houston for annual doctor visits and catching up with some friends. While there we visited with good friends; Bill, Leigh, Randy, Doug, and Kyle. It’s always great to see familiar friendly faces and share what’s been happening since last seen. We are lucky to have such good friends and we appreciate y’all.
There were some minor repairs on the RV that we had tried to get fixed on the road with no success. We decided to head to our yet to be sold house in Canyon Lake where we could stay while the RV was in a reputable shop in San Antonio.
Something you need to know about RV repair shops is they are in no real hurry. After two weeks in the shop, we finally picked up the RV. There is a really nice COE park called Cranes Mill in Canyon Lake so we decided to stay there another week to relax and ease ourselves back into the lifestyle.
While there we met two new friends, Tom and his 13 year old dog Teddy. Teddy gets hooked to Tom while straddling the bike as they ride the motorcycle together. How cool is that!!
